Chapter Text
The morning began like any other, only.. Ragatha was terrified.
She had been keeping her distance from Jax and Pomni for around a week and a half.
What if after all this, Jax wanted nothing to do with her?
He would be justified.
And she would have to accept it and- and.. her eyes burned.
Ragatha wiped away her own tears, and picked up the gift box Zooble and Gangle had made.
She headed to breakfast with as much confidence as she could muster.
Pomni was there, talking with Jax, and Kinger sat where he normally did.
Ragatha got to the table at the same time as Gangle.
Zooble wasn’t too far behind.
“Jax,” Ragatha cleared her throat before sitting down, “I uh, have something for you.”
Zooble gave her a thumbs up.
“Thanks?” He replied, looking cautious.
Ragatha handed him the letter first.
“Do you want me to read it?” Pomni asked both of them.
“Go ahead,” Ragatha smiled, “It’s no secret.”
“Yeah,” Jax handed the note to the jester.
“Jax,” Pomni read Ragatha’s note, “Im sorry for everything,
I'm sorry I had given up on you.
I’m sorry I didnt believe you.
Im sorry I didnt take the chance to be your friend when I could have.
I hope today will make up for that. I hope you can forgive me.
I hope we can be friends.
But we dont have to be, if thats not what you want.”
Jax looked at Ragatha, unreadably, as Pomni read her letter.
“Thank you,” He finally responded. “I would.. be a bit hypocritical if I decided not to forgive you after everything I’ve done to everyone here.”
Ragatha gave him silence, so he could speak.
“Im sorry I threw you off a boat, and every other time I’ve targeted you on adventures, or in the circus.”
“Thank you,” Ragatha felt a weight lift from her shoulders.
“Here!” She held the gift box out to him.
“This isn’t a prank is it?” Jax joked.
“No, of course not!” She put a hand over her mouth, “Its an ‘I’m sorry gift’”
“I didn’t get you anything..” He said quietly.
“You dont ever need to,” she replied.
Jax unwrapped the box carefully and popped off the lid.
He carefully pulled the plush out, and Ragatha pushed down the thought of him tossing it immediately.
“It’s cute,” He commented, inspecting the seams, “and actually really well made.”
“Thank you,” Ragatha smiled, “Gangle and Zooble helped.”
“Only with ideas!” Gangle chirped, “Ragatha stayed up almost every night for a week to actually make it.”
Pomni gave Ragatha an earnest smile.
“Thank you,” Jax said again. He ended up placing the patchwork rabbit into the chest pocket of his overalls.
“Gooooooood morning my Wild Wacky Wonders!” Caine appeared at the table, interrupting the crew, who had been taking turns thinking up names for Jax's plush.
“I hope you’re ready for todays adventure, it’s a request from our good friend Ragatha!”
“Don’t worry,” Ragatha said quickly, “It’s not softball!”
They got teleported more carefully than usual into a restaurant.
"Please," Ragatha gestured to some chairs, "take a seat,"
Jax had to process what he was being told for a moment, but then he sat in the booth closest to the group.
The others stood still, like they didn't really know what they needed to do. "You guys too," she said gently.
Pomni slid into the spot next to Jax, Gangle and Zooble sat on the other side of the rounded table.
"You can sit too," she offered Kinger, "This is part of my apology to all of you."
Kinger focused his eyes on her, "Hmm... Nah." he slipped past her and into the kitchen.
"I'll be right back," She blinked in confusion and then followed.
"Kinger," she caught up to him, and he was already pulling on an apron, "What are you doing?"
"Helping," he said, "where are the candy canes?"
Suddenly she wished she was in the dark so maybe he could give her some tips, but she pushed the thought down.
"No. No, I need you to go sit down, I'm making you all dinner."
"That sounds like a lot of work? Are you sure you dont want me to drive the train?" He seemed to want to help her very badly, but couldn't figure out how.
"No," Ragatha guided him back out into the sitting area, "You sit here and- Oh!" she hurried over to the greeter's stand, "Here,"
She handed him a menu. "You can help me," she smiled, "By picking something really good that you want," she then handed menus to each of the circus members.
"I can cook," Ragatha tried to assure everyone, "So dont be scared to pick something that sounds difficult. I can do it."
Zooble hesitated, "I can help, I mean.. this is cool, but you hurt Jax a lot more than you hurt me. I just didn't like you being a jerk."
"I dont blame you though," Jax spoke quietly - Ragatha didn't expect him to say anything. She didn't ever expect him to.
He raised his head up from his menu, ears low and eyes fixed on nothing, "I haven't exactly given you any reasons to trust me."
His gaze met hers finally, "I should've spoken to you sooner, instead letting it go so far as to toss you off a boat."
Ragatha drew in a breath and willed herself not to cry.
Her emotions felt mixed, and so very confusing - Jax had been awful to her, for so long, and when he started changing, when he started working on himself, she didn't notice.
Jax wasn't done, he placed his menu down on the table, "I'm sorry for everything," he glanced at Gangle and Zooble, "I'm really sorry."
No one else but Ragatha could see how Pomni reached under the table and took Jax's hand into her own.
"Th-thank you," Ragatha pushed back the tears threatening her vision, and smiled, "But it's not you who needs to apologize today."
"I didn't give you a chance," she started speaking the words she had been reciting in her head since his near abstraction, "I jumped to terrible conclusions, and I.."
"I didn't give you a chance to know," Jax calmly argued, "I was hurt that you didn't give me a chance, after I had caused you pain for years, without an apology, without explaining to you that I wanted to do better." He leaned forward, a serious look on his face, "I'm not completely innocent."
"When you last spoke to me," Ragatha took a deep breath, "Pomni said you were about to apologize."
Jax looked at the table and nodded ever so slightly, Ragatha saw Pomni squeeze his hand.
"I didn't give you a chance. I said things that crossed lines, brought up old pain, and I hurt you, I hurt you deep enough you almost-" Ragatha felt herself breathing a bit heavier, and took a breath to calm down. "I am so sorry," she sighed, "And I want you to know, this dinner, the plushie, the note, it's part of an apology."
Ragatha pulled out her note pad. "But I do not expect us to simply be friends. This is not an attempt to buy your forgiveness," she smiled at the group, "Now.. if I may have your orders?"
Zooble chuckled just a bit, "I'm sorry, I'm not laughing at you guys. That was just a really emotional speech and then 'May I have your order?'"
A true smile tugged at the corners of her lips, and soon each character was lightly giggling or laughing.
"Okay, I'll make this easy," Zooble said, "I just want macaroni."
"I'll do the same!" Gangle agreed, "Just that."
"You can pick what you actually want!" Ragatha reassured them both, "I can make it!"
"That is what I want," Zooble replied, "But if you want it more difficult, you can put something in it."
"Hotdogs are good in macaroni," Gangle suggested.
"Ew," Jax jokingly made a grossed out face at the two.
"O-okay!" Ragatha smiled, "And you three?"
"There's no ants in this picture book," Kinger hummed at the menu.
"Spaghetti," Jax decided, "With vodka sauce."
"Me too," Pomni handed Ragatha their menus, except for Kinger's, as he was still looking for ants.
"A-re you really sure?" Ragatha asked, almost disappointedly, "I want to make it special for you all."
"Spaghetti is literally my favorite food in the world," Jax informed her, "If you wanna make it special, make sure Caine gave you parmesan."
"Okay!" She headed into the kitchen and pulled out some pots.
"Ragatha!" Caine suddenly appeared behind her, "Can I help?"
"No," Ragatha turned to face him, then realized he was standing on the floor. Wearing a chef's uniform.
"I-" she laughed to herself, "You know what? Okay." She pulled out a cook book, "Pick a cake from in here, and maybe you could make it?"
"Of course!!" Caine looked delighted to be of assistance, and walked to the other end of the kitchen.
As she worked on the two types of pasta, she could hear Caine and Bubble occasionally get confused on what to do with the different ingredients.
At one point, they accidentally flipped to a whole different page and got to making something totally different.
"Do you two need help?" She called to them as she threw some hot dogs onto a baking sheet.
"No!" Caine and Bubble said together.
"Okay!" She poured Vodka sauce over spaghetti, stirred chopped hot dogs into the mac n cheese, and placed some raisons and peanut butter into celery for Kinger.
--
Ragatha stepped into the dining area with five plates.
She placed Jax and Pomni's plates, then Zooble and Gangles plates, then set Kinger's in front of him. "You can pick something else," She informed him, "But until then here's these."
Kinger seemed perfectly happy with the 'ants on a log' though.
"You should eat with us," Pomni said before anyone touched their plates.
"Yeah," Zooble agreed.
Jax nodded, "Please, go grab something and join us."
"Really?" Ragatha had planned on going back into the kitchen and just.. waiting until everyone was done so she could bring out cake.
"I wouldn't offer if I didn't want you here," Jax stated calmly.
"Okay!" She hurried back to the kitchen and decided she would also have spaghetti.
"Are you two alright back here?" She asked Caine and Bubble while plating her own food.
"Yep!" Caine chirped back, "Almost done!"
"Okay," she turned back out into the room and sat carefully with the others. Suddenly, she was scared to move, or eat, or do anything.
"It's okay," Zooble elbowed her gently, "No one's at your throat, you can eat."
"Y-yeah!" She whispered back, and forced herself to take a bite.
The food as actually quite good, even if she hadn't made spaghetti in years.
Everyone was too busy eating to talk, and soon enough everyone's plates had been emptied.
Ragatha took everyone's plates, and when she returned she had a lopsided marbled chocolate and vanilla cake.
"Caine and Bubble made this one," She announced, setting it on the table.
"It probably tastes good at least," Zooble said, eyeing it wearily.
Ragatha cut the cake, and gave the first piece to Jax, before serving everyone else.
"Hey, I didn't know it's my birthday," Jax joked.
"Caine wanted to help," She explained.
"Well, I'll have to thank him later I guess." Jax shrugged and tried the cake.
When he didn't have any reaction, Ragatha tried it herself. It wasn't a bad cake, it just tasted like a supermarket cake instead of a home baked one.
"I've had worse," Pomni said, continuing to eat her slice.
The night felt a lot less heavy as she sat at that table, eating with friends.